A shinobi's path
by XxAyameAzumaxX
Summary: Rikimaru and Ayame, after being saved by ally ninja, are taken to thier village. Can they adapt to the leaf village ninja's lifestyle, or will they learn that it was their lifestyle to begin with?


**DISCLAIMER: i do not own any characters from tenchu or naruto- wish i did- but i don't, thier respectable owners do(if anyone could tell me who owns naruto and who owns tenchu that would be greatly appreciatied)**

**SUMMARY: Rikimaru and Ayame, the last survivors of the Azuma shinobi ryu ninja clan, are saved by ninja from an ally ninja clan and brought to thier village. Will they easily fall into the leaf village ninja's lifestyle or will the life style was thiers to begin with.**

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**Chapter One: Azuma- the last survivors**

**Ayame slowly regained consciousness-opening burning, blurry eyes to look around her. Where was she? The room was hot and stuffy. The smell of smoke and burning wood assaulted her air ways, irritating her already burning lungs. Then she saw the fire, it's flames licked their way across the shogi screening, eating away at the floors in front of her. She tried to push herself off of the tatami matting so that she could scoot away from the burning flames, but fell back down, too weak to move.**

**What had happened? Why was the castle burning and where was everyone? **

**Then she remembered. A large band of elite rogue ninja had attacked the Azuma village, killing her master and the villagers. A tear slid down her smudged cheek- one of her teammates was dead and the other had taken the lord and the princess to safety on her command.**

_**Good, at least he'll survive**_**, she thought to herself as a creaking and groaning gained her attention. **_**The raptors. **_**She listened.**

**_Right above me. _Right as she registered its location, she heard the burning wood snap, the deep 'whoosh' in the air as it descended upon her. She braced herself, expecting to hear the sound, feel the pain of bones crunching. She accepted her undeniable fate, waiting for the raptors to crush her. But it never came.**

**She instead felt as though someone had picked her up and jumped into the night air. Was it a rogue coming to finish her off because he didn't have the chance to do so earlier? She opened her eyes to the smoke covered night sky. She was in gentle arms which looped gently under her knees and behind her shoulders. Looking over to her hero with still blurry eyes, she gasped quietly, her eyes widening,**

"**Riki…maru...?" she managed to whisper through weak, parched lips. She recognized her partner's head of messy silver hair and could barely make out the scar on his left eye. The black haze was beginning to take over her senses, dulling them as a thought struck her.**

_**Left eye?**_** She thought he got cut on his right eye and gashes like that can't make a scar that quickly can it? She had no time to ponder as she sunk into unconsciousness, allowing the blackness to swallow her. At least she would live-she hoped.**

**Rikimaru sat wounded against a tree deep in the forest, cursing himself. He was weak; he had managed to get Lord Ghoda and his daughter to safety. His teeth clenched together. But he had not managed to save his partners. One was wounded, probably dead, in the which was still ablaze. The other, his older brother, had been killed trying to protect the lord from some ronins before Rikimaru had arrived to take him and Kiku to safety. **

**Rikimaru leaned his head in his hands. His wounds had gotten to him on his way back, limiting his movement. He closed his eyes- he had allowed his teammates to die and now he would die, **

"**Tatsumaru…. I couldn't get to you fast enough to help you…. I failed you…and Ayame….please forgive me" he whispered, his voice strained with pain," I did all I could."**

**The pain in his right eye was unbearable. He had been sliced in his right eye by a ronin when they had ambushed him. His good eye flickered to the opposite tree line as three teens that were about Ayame's age. One was a tall boy-about his height- with spikey blonde hair, wearing an orange and black jacket with orange pants that cut off a few inches above his ankles. The second one was another boy with onyx bangs parted down the middle, falling into his face and the back spiked. Rikimaru's heart sunk- that one looked a lot like Ayame in the face- just a bit more masculine in the contours. Then his attention went to the girl between them; she had short cut light pink hair and wore a red halter style top and a four pieced divided skirt over a pair of mid-thigh length tights.**

**Who were they, were they ronin too?**

**Weakly, Rikimaru got to his feet and unsheated his sword, the Izayoi,**

"**Stay back." He rasped out through the pain, before falling to his knees, dizzy from the blood loss. The two boys took up offensive positions, pulling out kunai knives from their pouches. But the girl did not even move, she just walked over to him slowly, raising her hands in a sign of piece,**

"**Sakura get away from him he may be faking!" the onyx haired shinobi hissed cautiously. The girl only turned to her teammate disgruntled,**

"**Sasuke it's fine. He's hurt and he needs medical attention. You've been gone far too long" she giggled before walking over to Rikimaru with a sympathetic smile on her face, "It's okay, we're leaf village, we were sent on a distress call to help your clan- are you Rikimaru the leader of the clan, the one who sent the message?"**

**Rikimaru's eyes widened and his sword dropped from his grasp. He had not sent a message, so that could only mean that Tatsumaru, the leader of the clan, had sent it, putting under Rikimaru's name, saying that **_**he **_**was the leader of the clan. The shinobi's throat tightened with grief; his brother had known that he was going to die tonight, so he automatically passed leadership over to his younger brother.**

_**Why did you choose me brother?**_** He thought to himself forlornly, **_**I'm weak, I couldn't even save myself or Ayame. **_

**Ayame. She was a strong girl, so maybe she was still alive. Only way to find out,**

"**My partner….she's in the fire" he rasped out, looking up at the three shinobi with desperation in the crystal depths of his unique silver-grey eyes.**

**~XXX~**

**Sakura felt the shinobi's despair as she looked into his eyes. Felt the fear and despair for his partner's life, **

"**Don't worry, if she's in there then Kakashi-sensei will find her." She offered as much comfort as she could, hoping that she was right. She swallowed the bile in her throat, he needed medical attention fast or he wasn't going to last long. He had various cuts and gashes all over his body and a really deep one on his face that were all covered with dirt and ash. She had to work fast if she was going to stop any infection that he may already have from spreading to the other wounds. Carefully, she knelt at his Rikimaru's side,**

"**Is there a river or clean stream nearby that I can get water from to clean the dirt from your wounds?" she asked, carefully removing the tattered remains of his vest and the once blue shirt from his bloody skin, both soaked in his and other ninjas' blood. He nodded his head once and got to his feet and walked over to an out crop of trees, using other trees for support before disappearing into the treeline. Naruto over exaggeratedly relaxed his posture before glaring at his teammate with his sapphire blue eyes,**

"**Are you nuts, Sakura?! That guy could have well but killed us the way you trusted him right off the bat like that. **_**Geez**_** is it because he had black hair and looked **_**emo**_** the way he was sitting there that had you bein all nice to him" he rambled before taking on a thoughtful look, " good technique, I should try that sometime"**

**BAM!!**

"**Stupid it was obvious he needed medical attention. Plus he couldn't have been the enemy or else he wouldn't have reacted to us like that! Use your common sense if you have any!!" Sakura growled out as she tightened he chokehold on the blonde ninja. She dropped what she was doing as Kakashi walked into the clearing looking worse for wear. He had cuts all over his body which was much more chiseled than she remembered it being last time she healed his wounds,**

"**Hey Kakashi something's different about you….why don't you have a shirt….on?" then she realized that the scar was on the right eye and that it was a fresh cut. She dropped a now purple Naruto to the ground and her eyes went wide, " Ri-Ri-RIKIMARU?!" he looked at her as if she had a mental problem before walking over to the tree he had been sitting against. All three shinobi were looking at him with a look that purely read ' What the hell?!'**

**The medic ninja regained her composure, clearing her throat before taking a closer look at him. He looked like a younger version of her sensei, with his messy, tossled silver hair that was slightly more controlled than Kakashi's which seriously seemed to defy gravity. Sighing, she knelt at his side again, focusing the chakra into her hands before placing them on a particularly deep wound on his abdomen. She didn't jump when he barely managed to hold a cry of pain in- she did, however, when a puff of smoke exploded behind her. Both Sasuke and Naruto jumped to defend their friend when the smoke dissipated, revealing a giant white wolf. The canine had a monotonous expression on its lupine face as it just back on its haunches, looking at Sakura and Rikimaru. It's fur was like snow, its frame larger than even large wolves(hence the descriptive adjective '**_**giant**_**') giving it a somewhat dangerous air.**

**The two chun-in strafed over to it as quietly and cautiously as they could, jumping back when the wolf turned its large head and growled at them. All three leaf ninja jumped back when Rikimaru addressed the lupine,**

"**White fang…. Find Ayame's scent…tell me if she's alive." He commanded, weakly as the fatigue began setting in. now Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto wouldn't have freaked out when Rikimaru issued the order, all shinobi talk to their summonings. But it is not normal, I repeat NOT normal when the the animal starts talking back unless that shinobi was somehow a saa-nin. And Rikimaru was most certainly not a saa-nin level ninja, so they all the three chuu-nin fell over in a nearly dead faint when White Fang **_**replied**_**,**

"**Yes, I will try" he said in a deep gravelly voice before tilting his head back and sniffing the air for a few moments, "she is alive but weak. Another shinobi is carrying her, trying to detect his team members."**

**The three leaf ninja recovered from their initial shock as the wolf revealed the whereabouts of Rikimaru's partner and their teacher to the shinobi. Sakura smiled brightly at the shinobi,**

"**See, I told you that if she was in the castle, Kakashi-sensei would find her." She knelt by him again, focusing chakra into her hands, "now keep still and please don't summon anything else that has the potential to kill us." She giggled nervously as she began healing Rikimaru's wounds one by one.**

**White fang, obeying the orders he was given, sprinted in the prime direction of the kunoichi, Ayame's, scent. He didn't have to run too far to find her being carried by his old master,**

"**well if it isn't Kakashi Hatake. I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to speak to you again? I see you are constantly by Uchihas. Your old teammate from your childhood, your student and now this." He said, mirth evident in his voice.**

**The jonin sighed, "So what brings you here White fang? Who summoned you?" he asked, a certain wistful tone in his mellow voice. A smile curved the wolf's lips,**

" **I am here to retrieve you and my master's partner. He is a rather impatient individual….reminds me of you when you were with Rin and Obito in your old squad." **

"**alright lets stop reminiscing about the past and get the girl to Sakura before it's too late." Kakashi walked over to White fang, climbing on his back, "lets go."**

**Rikimaru had dosed off as Sakura healed the last of his minor wounds. She had healed the deep wounds first, including the one on his eye, which left a scar that would stay with the shinobi for quite a while maybe even the rest of his life. Sakura smiled, he looked peaceful as he slept against the tree's trunk unperturbed by its rough bark. They all jumped again as white fang jumped into the clearing, Kakashi on his back, holding a teenage girl securely in his arms. Even through the ash and sweat covering her face, Sakura could see the girl's facial features; her dark brown choppy, pieced hair clung to her cheeks and forehead from the blood and perspiration. She had a thick fringe of eye lashes lining her eye lids, soft looking cheeks that were smudged with ash. She had a small nose that fit well with the soft contours of her face and full pouty lips that had a ribbon of blood dripping from the corners. At the sound of clothes rustling, Sakura looked back to see rikimaru sitting up staring at the unconscious girl in the jonin's arms. His good eye was wide with shock- his broad shoulders tensed in anticipation as one single word slipped from his mouth, **

"**A-Ayame.."**

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**Okay people read and review. i had a hard time deciding if i should put this as the first chapter or if I should put something else i had in mind, so if you like this chapter and think i should continue from here, or if you think I should I change this chapter either way i plan to put a full story. but i need your opinion for future chapters( character pairings, character appearances, what you think would be a good idea for the next chapters). oh, and if you find any errors in the wording please notify me in your reviews and i will attempt to properly correct them(if you have the correct wording for any error i may have type it in the review along with any opinions you may want to present) **

**I have a vague idea of what i want for the next chapters but if you summarize an idea you have for what happens next, i may be able to mold it to my idea(the most probable senario). i will give you the credit you deserve if you present an idea for anything(see paragraph above) if you so desire it. i will need you to tell me so because i will most likely forget to give you credit, because i'm A-D-D and forget things very easily( which is why i'm on 40 mg of adderal(correct sp?)). so srry if i'm rambling now so......PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


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